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Constantly hungry 8 month old

Hello,

My baby boy is 8.5 months old. He's 19.5lbs and 74 cm long. He's exclusively breastfed since birth. He breast feeds at least 6 times in a day and at least 2 times at night. He is also a very very busy, constantly moving, crawling baby (I'm also thinking he's a high needs baby and has been since birth)

He has always been a great eater. however, since we have started solids over 2 months ago, he has been totally obsessed with food. He loves it. There is no single item he won't eat. When he sees a bowl of food he cries and wants it right away. He eats about 3-4 (give or take 6 oz. each) homemade baby meals a day, plus various snacks. My friends and family members are astonished when they see the amount of food he is able to devour.
Is it normal that a baby can eat so much??
Could his constant hunger be a sign of a poor milk supply on my part?

Re: Constantly hungry 8 month old

He's spoon fed. Is there a better way?

I would not say there is a "better" way, but there is a different way, commonly called "Baby-Led Solids or (in England) ‘Baby Led Weaning" There is a book by that name and a website if you would like more info. And even if one does baby led solids, as I have done with my third child, some foods may still be spoon fed as preferred- it' not either/or.

In my exp, babies fed purees or finely mashed foods via spoon controlled by the caregiver tend to eat more food, faster. (Unless they are the kind of baby who hates being spoon fed and refuses all together.) To me it is akin to offering a baby breast milk in a bottle rather then the breast-the food is the same, but the delivery system is not as 'natural’ and in some cases, leads to overeating-which I actually would not worry about- except that you do not want solids replacing breastmilk at this age-even the healthiest foods are not nearly as nutrition packed as your milk. This is the time for ‘introducing’ solids.

An 8 month old is usually capable of picking food up (gabbing in fist if not pincher grip yet) and getting it into his own mouth, biting off a piece (as ling as the item is soft enough) chewing (even with no teeth) and moving the food around in his mouth with his tongue, all to get it ready to be swallowed

These are all important (and time consuming) aspect of eating that are largely skipped when a baby is only spoon fed soft mushy foods. Of course your baby may eat just as much or even more if he does more self-feeding. Some babies will eat way more than others and it's perfectly normal. But in that case, you can be more sure baby really wanted it all.

He's breast fed at least 6 times a day and at least 2 times at night

8 times a day is normal frequency to be nursing, so I am not seeing a problem there. Where breastfeeding issues crop up is when solid meals are substituting for nursing sessions. Simply offering to nurse before a solid meal (or after, to quench thirst) and continuing to cue feed and comfort nurse as baby likes should prevent a too-early substitution of solids for breastfeeding.

Re: Constantly hungry 8 month old

Ds was the same way. High needs and ate huge amounts of solids starting at that age. I was simply amazed at what he shoveled in his mouth. It was never a reflection of my supply. We did baby led solids simply because he wouldn't stand to be spoon feed after the first few weeks. I enjoyed letting him feed himself. It gave him a ton of fine motor skill practice and finally have me a chance to eat at the same time.
Oh and he also ate everything. I had people shocked at what my toddler would eat. Then, bam! The toddler picky stage hit between 18-24 months. He wouldn't eat some of his absolute favorite and definitely wouldn't try anything new. He's slowly coming out of it. Enough that he wanted to taste vinegar the other day. That was a priceless face!